USB connection not selectable for Simatic PC adapter USB, only COM is accessible

There is no “USB” item in the Set PG/PC Interface – Local Connection – Connection to, only serial port RS-232 (COM3) connection is there.

I experienced the same problem before, when the drivers of PC adapter USB where installed _after_ Step7. Consequently the problem was solved by changing the sequence: first the drivers of PC adapter USB, then Step7. Now any sequence doesn’t help, also keeping the PC adapter on or off during/after the installation. Also tried to check without Step7 installed (used to work like that before).
Now the same installation distributives are used (all latest versions), only a different laptop – without COM port.

OK, that's the way I understood it from the beginning, just wanted to make sure.

In fact, there's no "USB" selection item in the "Local Connection – Connection to" combo-box. And that was my question.

You must be sick and tired already of stupid questions here. I would never post a message to a forum without spending several days trying all things myself and searching for the answer in Internet. I've re-installed Windows and Step7 a dozen times already.
I'll be grateful if you suggest how I should have formed my question in order to make it 100% explicit and clear, and prevent such misunderstandings. I've spent quite some time making the optimal wording for the question, so your feedback will really be helpful.

During our discussion it was not working. Or rather the PC adapter itself was OK, working good on the old laptop, and discovered OK as a USB device on the new laptop. But "USB" item was still missing in the PG/PC interface.

But now I’ve found the solution. The problem was in the way Windows was installed. After re-installing Windows completely it is OK (before I used to restore the image of installed OS). The main suspicion is for Windows Updates: I’d installed the critical updates (KB873339-KB932168, 75 in total) before the drivers for PC adapter USB. Now I installed first the drivers, and then the updates – everything is OK. There’s still a small probability that the reason is different, but, having spent about 30 hours installing and re-installing, I don’t want to experiment any more.

Also I'd like to express my opinion, based on 6 year experience, that Simatic soft is very heavy, slow, and capricious. Every new installation is a challenge, and if you don’t have the image of your hard drive with all the software properly installed, you risk spending several days on reinstalling every couple of months.

I agree Simatic net is always a challenge. I havn't figured out whether that is just Siemens or a different way of thinking by the Germans. Probably a bit of both. Even something simple like a German proximity switch seems to have been made as difficult as possible in its instructions which often serve many models.
I have been told the German language Siemens manuals are much better, but that doesn't help me unfortunately.
I also agree regarding making an image of Drive C: I always do that and have very few problems once I have sorted out a new PC with all the drivers I need and installed all my Siemens and Citect software.

Sorry to bring this thread up from the dead. I had the same problem as the OP and this thread showed up when I was searching for a solution.

In my situation it turned out that the installer that auto-runs on the CD is kind of funky. You know the one. Its the one that insists on rebooting your computer before it installs anything.

In my case it rebooted my computer and still did not install anything even though it said it did. I found that out when out of frustration I tried the installer on the CD at D:\PC_Adapter_USB\Software\Setup\Setup.exe

Simatic installers insist on rebooting if the rebooting was skipped after the previous installation. This shouldn't be connected with the fact that nothing was actually installed. That was probably due to a faulty installer or maybe some settings in the INI-file. Here's the link to the latest version (v2.0)http://support.automation.siemens.co...ew/en/27062840

In my case re-installing Windows with the proper order of updates was inevitable: I executed "PC_Adapter_USB\Software\Setup\Setup.exe" from the beginning. Though in version 2.0 I never experienced the problem (USB option not selectable in combo-box).

It's an old thread now, but maybe my recent experience with this problem can help someone else.

I had the same symptoms - no USB setting available in the local settings drop down menu for the PC adaptor.

After trying a lot of different options, all I had to do was firstly uninstall the PC adaptor (with the add/remove interfaces setting in the Set PC/PG interface dialog), then make sure the adaptor is not plugged into your PC. Plug the adaptor in to the PLC. This powers it up. Then plug the USB in. In my case Windows then automatically recognised the PC adaptor and did the necessary installation.